If you REALLY wanted to create an explanation for ghouls... which really is unnecessary... but you could potentially tie it into the New Plague. Perhaps the plague (or, the subsequent attempts at a cure) altered some people's DNA the interaction with heavy radiation cause ghoulification.
I actually think that Season 2 of the show may well want to go into the origin of ghouls. It would make sense, there's still a chunk of Coop's pre-war backstory to go through as well as his early years. Given the appearance of the "anti-feral" drug, there does seem to be a desire to expand on ghouls in general.
I had a thought as I was going over this, about the question of Moldaver's long life.
-spoiler, with a thought on the direction S2?
I actually think that Season 2 of the show may well want to go into the origin of ghouls. It would make sense, there's still a chunk of Coop's pre-war backstory to go through as well as his early years. Given the appearance of the "anti-feral" drug, there does seem to be a desire to expand on ghouls in general.
I had a thought as I was going over this, about the question of Moldaver's long life.
-spoiler, with a thought on the direction S2?
I had simply assumed Moldaver went on ice either in 31 or 4. However, given this show ALSO wants to tie alot of the overall background to these characters... given some small hints, I wonder if Moldaver is somehow tied to ghouls and the drug. I don't think the name of her organization was a mistake "Hollywood Forever"... we know there are multiple people/groups out there working to extend life, and in the game lore there were already people getting ghoulified prior to the war.
It's entire possible that some of the Hollywood people were trying to go a different route to extend their life... with it only working particularly well on Moldaver.
It's entire possible that some of the Hollywood people were trying to go a different route to extend their life... with it only working particularly well on Moldaver.